Black Magic

Dr. Faustus sold his soul to the devil for knowledge.  Dorian Gray sold his soul for beauty.  In this unit Monsters Inside of Us, we have had to discuss the difference between good and evil.  Humans: are they naturally good or evil? or are they a clean slate?  During the Dorian Gray Socratic Seminar we had to decide if we believed that Dorian was changed or if he was revealed.  I think that everyone is naturally pure and that experiences change us and shape us.  Power can ruin people; this is what happened to Dorian Gray the power of his beauty caused him to give up his soul.  It was easy for him because he could put his soul in the attic and not have to look at it.  Dr. Faustus gave up his soul for power also; the power of knowledge.  He was obsessed with the idea of knowing everything and having the ability to control others.  Faustus never saw the consequences of his actions until too late.  He always thought I have 24 years of pure knowledge and he never tried to repent until it was too late.  These stories went along very well with a movie that I saw yesterday.  It is called Mirror Mirror a play off of the tale of Snow White.  The evil queen had a mirror that helped her perform black magic and the mirror always warned her that the magic would come back to get her.  The queen continued anyway.  When the queen's magic finally ended, though, she turned form a beautiful young woman into an old wretch.  She never regretted her actions until it was too late.  The same as Dr. Faustus, who did not regret until the devils dragged him to hell.  The same as Dorian Gray, who finally saw the horror of his soul and tried to kill it but only succeeded in killing himself.  In my opinion all of these people must have started with a pure soul.  In Mirror Mirror I do not have the background to say if this is true or not.  In Dr. Faustus he sold his soul for knowledge his reasoning was pure and good.  The power got to him and he was taken away from God, as it was a part of the deal.  Dorian Gray never knew the power of his beauty until Lord Henry and Basil explained it to him and then the Yellow Book led Dorian away from love.  There are bad people in the world but everyone starts out good; it is the black magic that changed them.

You Should Be A Looking Glass

"Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of a man at twice its natural size."  Virginia Woolf expresses the sentiment that women are expected to keep up the moral morale of their husbands.  In class we were given an excerpt, that we were read in psychology class also, from a 1950s high school home economics textbook. "The goal: Try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can relax in body and spirit;" the game: being a god wife.  That's how I took it.  They were expecting you to play a game; make your life perfect to suit your husband.  It's not real life.  This reminded me of the musical our high school produced this year. How to Succeed In Buisness Without Really Trying.  One of the songs that the female lead sings is about how her dream is to wait for her husband to come home late.  This was absolute satire of the buisness world and the wives of buisness men so it did not bother me. It also written in 1961 and that was when women were still fighting for respect.  The part that stumped me was my own thought.  At one point a secretary walks across the stage and all of the guys follow her and watch her as she passes by.  I thought "Why are the watching her she isn't wearing tight clothing or anything!"  I realized I have fallen into the stereotype we were talking about in English class.  Women in our time need to be sexy and I could not grasp why men would stare at a woman in normal buisness attire.  The image of an attractive women may have changed but Woolf's quote still is true.  A woman is expected to be there to support men and make them feel better about themselves.  The image of women as the caring supporture will never leave.

There's no place like... work?

In class this month we have been discussing a woman's place constantly.  I even found myself pushing women into stereotypes.  The Awakening by Kate Chopin brought this stereotype to the surface for me.  I was appalled that a woman could dismiss her children and her husband and leave behind her life.  On the other hand I could understand her struggle she was trapped in a world with no power and no way take her life into her own hands unless she, literally, took her own life.  There is the argument that no matter what a woman should never leave her children, it is her duty to take care of them; it is almost laughable to think another way. In fact, it is laughable.  I remember when I was a child I watched a movie; its genre was comedy; its title Daddy Daycare.  I do not remember all of the details but the main point was that a man had to take care of children and he had absolutely no idea what to do.  He did not want this job, the tides were against him, and it was his misfortune.  Of course like most movies it had a cute happy ending where he figured everything out but the main idea was a man being a stay at home dad is comedy.  If a woman was at home with her children our superego would not bat an eye.  A Dolls House changed my opinion on the place of women.  Before I found myself falling into the stereotype where women should take care of their children always and forever.  Afterwards I realized it was very important for a woman to take care of herself before her children.  A woman's place is not to become the perfect mother; her best chance to be a good mother is to know herself.  A child can not learn from a mother that does not respect herself.  If the mothers desire is to go to work, then her children will respect her for doing so much.